


Walk with me

by anditsbritt



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Violence, there's mention of suicide once
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 15:37:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4441523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anditsbritt/pseuds/anditsbritt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Walking Dead AU </p><p>Times are rough when you try and survive a zombie apocalypse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Walk with me

**September, 2012**

 

“ What do you mean Buffy isn’t your all time favorite television character. She is totally an inspiration to all women around the world. How can you _not_ like her.” 

Laura was sitting in her favorite recliner in the living of her father’s house, wearing her pajamas, and wrapped in a big blanket. She was watching reruns of her favorite television show, _Buffy the vampire slayer_ , while talking on the phone at the same time to a girl she had currently developed feelings for. When her father walked through the front door he was not surprised to see his daughter on the phone, babbling about something he once again didn’t understand.

However, Laura was surprised to see him come home with what looked like a long weapon in one of his hand. When she slightly turned her head and saw her dad holding the unknown object she was taken back a bit.

“ Uh, Cassie, I have to go. I’ll call you back in a bit. Bye.” Laura waited till her ‘friend’ hung up the phone before she ended her side of the conversation. She then divided all her attention to her dad who had tried to sneak past her. “ What are you holding?”

“ It’s nothing, sweetie. Why don’t you go back to watching your show.” It was clear to Laura that he was trying to avoid the question.

Laura pressed pause on the remote to the television so she wouldn’t miss any of her show, then got up from the recliner and pushed the blanket to the side. She walked to her father who then put the long object behind his back. “ C’mon Dad, what are you hiding. Whatever it is I’m old enough to know, I am sixteen you know.”

He sighed. “ I know you’re old enough, and I trust you but I’d rather just not talk about it right now.”

It was then that Laura started to worry. “ Is it something bad, should I be scared?”

“ No, no Laura. Everything is fine.” Papa Hollis wrapped his free arm around Laura to give her a side hug and a kiss to the top her head. “ There is nothing to worry about, I promise. Something just came up at work today and I was given this.” He eventually gave up and showed the long object to Laura who looked at it unaware of what it was. He took off the case and revealed the long, very sharp katana sword to his daughter.

“ Why were you given a sword?” Laura knew that sometimes people stopped by the police station to give the officers a gift of thanks, usually it was just a fruit basket or a card. Never had Laura heard of anyone giving a sword.

Mr. Hollis shrugged, making it seem like it was no big deal. “ A man gave it to me, said that I will need it someday.”

Laura scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, not understanding why somebody would gift him such a random object. 

“ Sweetie, just promise me you won’t mention this to anyone. I don’t want other people finding out we have such a dangerous object in this house. I’m going to lock this in my safe upstairs, if you're ever in any extreme danger you know the combination, right?”

Laura just nodded.

“ Good, now I highly doubt we'll ever use it, but just in case I’m going to sign you up for weekly classes on how to use one because I don’t want my little Laura to get hurt. Safety first.”

Laura rolled her eyes at her father’s usual safety precautions. She was positive that she was never going to use it. In fact she entirely forgot about the sword until that dreaded day came.

Only much later did she realize that the man who gave the sword to her father was right, they were going to need it one day.

* * *

**Twenty days ago**

 

Laura and her dad sat on the couch like they did every Sunday night and watched television. A Toronto Blue Jays game was on and her dad was really into it, like he typically was. The game was in the bottom of the sixth when the channel switched from the game to a news broadcast titled “Breaking news”. 

“ Hey Laur, the game was on. My Jays were about to hit one home, I could feel it.” Her dad tried to stay calm but Laura knew how much he loved his baseball. She couldn’t help but giggle.

“ Dad, it wasn’t me. Promise.”

Mr. Hollis gave his daughter a wink before getting up from the couch and going to the kitchen to make some popcorn. Laura was about to go him help because he never knew how long to put it in the microwave for but she got distracted by the news reporter on the television.

“ We don’t know how it started or how it is treated but world class scientist are testing every possibility available. Again I’ll repeat, if you are in the West part of North America we advise you to lock up, don’t answer your door, stay quiet and move very minimal. There are highly trained professionals working on a cure, police roaming the streets for your safety, and army vehicles being transported for precautions. Alarms will be sounded if anything is to go wary. This is BC News, thank you and stay safe.”

Laura turned around and saw that her dad was watching behind her. This was the first time Laura had heard anything about this, which was making her extremely confused, but her father’s face was telling a very different story.

“ What’s going on?”

“ Nothing, it’s nothing we have to worry about it.” Without another word he turned around and went back into the kitchen. Of course Laura, being very strong headed like her father, wasn’t going to take that as an answer. She followed him into the kitchen and proceeded to use her journalist personality to question him. 

“ Please dad, I’m nineteen years old, I’m an adult. I deserve to know what’s going on out there.”

He sighed. “ You know I try to protect you from the bad out there. Life is a scary thing when you can’t control what’s going on.”

“ You are protecting me, I’ve made it through nineteen years of my life thanks to the large amount of bear spray and years of krav maga lessons. If you tell me what’s going on you’ll still be protecting me, just in a different way.”

Mr. Hollis nodded as he sat down at the kitchen table and motioned Laura to do the same.

“ I don’t know when it started, and I don’t know how, but there are these things, people call them walkers, that a roaming around North America.”

Laura stopped to think for a moment. “ Walkers?”

Her dad sighed. “ Yeah hunny, walkers. They are - they’re zombies.”

Laura’s stomach sank when she heard the words. She grew up with her father reading fairy tales at bedtime which is when she’s only ever had to worry about zombies, when they were in the books, when they weren't real. 

“ What, there’s no way. How could that-”

“ There is a way Laura, and it happened. I don’t know how nor why, but please do not go off worrying about this. The chances of that happening here are slim Laur, you heard the news broadcast, it’s all the way over West, and they have the best scientists in the world working on this case. There really is nothing to worry about.”

Laura just shook her head.

“ Promise you won’t worry, Laura. You’re just like your mother and I know you're going to go off and do research about this. Please promise me you won’t do it, not this time.” 

Laura stood up from the table and walked over to her father on the other side. She bent down and placed a kiss on his cheek. “ I promise, dad.”

It was then that Laura claimed she was going to bed. It was then that Laura took out her laptop and searched what was going on. It was then that Laura wished she would have listened to her father and not searched it up.

It was then that she wished she could forget.

* * *

**Present day**

 

Laura didn’t expect her day out at the library with Betty to go so horribly wrong. Sure, she had seen numerous reports on the various television stations every day, sure the population of Toronto had been warned that it could be any day now, but nobody believed it. Laura certainly didn’t. 

Laura and Betty were in the Silas University library, studying for an English exam that was in a week when they heard the first scream. They both turned their heads to see a person dragging themself up the stairs to the second floor. He had blood dripping from his mouth, and disturbing moans could be heard coming from him as well. The person was pale, their skin unnaturally wrinkled and their clothes were ripped all over. There was a god awful smell coming from him, and yet no one could bring themselves to move a muscle. Everyone on the top floor of the library was frozen with fear.

“ Please, please tell me this isn’t happening.” Laura was saying it more to herself but she got a response from Betty who just looked at Laura with fear in her eyes. They both continued to watch the _thing_ walk up the stairs.

Much to her dismay, Laura did take time out of a fifteen hour work day to study about these things, the things that she learned were called walkers. They were basically the stereotypical zombie and not much was known about them since the outbreak in North America wasn’t too long ago. The last thing Laura had heard was that they had already invaded most of the West coast and the majority of the South. There hadn’t been any cases in East Canada that was on the news or in the papers, that was until today.

With a shaky breath and nervous hands Laura took a hold of her pencil that she had laid on the table and began to write in her notebook that was on the table, she didn’t want to talk aloud and risk the chance of the zombie walking towards her. Once she had written a plan she turned the piece of paper around to Betty who read it and agreed.

Laura Hollis was a average student so one wouldn’t necessarily think of her for a situation of this type, but she was a black belt in Krav Maga and it fortunately gave her fast thinking skills that she would finally get to put to the test today. 

The walker was finally at the top of the stairs and Laura could tell that the people closest to it were getting restless. She waited until the first person got up and ran, then the second, and then the third. She waited until all hell broke loose and the walker who had climbed up had finally managed to bite someone and began to eat. It was finally distracted and now it was their time to move.

Laura was the first of the two to get up from her chair. Everyone around her was running and screaming but Laura was focused, she knew Betty was behind her and she knew that her friend was going to run home, just like Laura was going to do. Her head stayed straight as she ran past the walker who was eating someone Laura had recognized from her Lit class, and ran down the stairs. She bolted past the people on the first floor who were in complete chaos and out the front door. When she ran out the door she immediately stopped for a moment and felt Betty run into her from behind. The two couldn’t believe what they were seeing before them.

It looked like the entire university campus was already overrun by walkers. Everyone who was still living was running around and screaming, people could be heard crying, and faint moans could be heard in the distance. With the large student population of Silas University Laura knew that they had to get out of there, and fast. There wasn’t going to be a lot of time before the majority of campus would completely be walkers.

“ Okay Betty, meet me back at the Lustig in a half hour!”

“ Gotcha’!” Betty yelled back before both took off sprinting in separate directions.

In the note that Laura had written in the building she had planned on waiting until the library was complete chaos, then running home and getting their families, then meeting back at the Lustig in thirty minutes. Once they achieved that they decided to just go from there.

Laura Hollis was currently running as fast as she could to go get her father. She was thankful that her house wasn’t too far from campus since her legs were pumping, and her lungs burning, but she was pushing herself to go faster. She needed to get to her dad, that was her number one priority.

She couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when she saw her house, however, her relief was soon diminished when she saw that her street was filled with walkers.

“ No no no..” Her breath began getting extremely haggard as she had to dodge the various walkers that were trying to grab her. Laura Hollis knew that this was a suicide mission, she had no weapons on her, but she needed to get to her dad.

Laura ran past her neighbor's house and saw that there was no movement, she didn’t know if that was a good sign or not. As she finally approached her own front door, she ran up the steps and barged in, what she was faced with was her worst nightmare. Her dad was on the floor on top of a walker, he was continuously punching it in the face.

“ Dad!” Laura ran over to her father who jumped back in surprise but also looked relieved to see that Laura was untouched.

“ Laura! Are you hurt? Did you get bitten?” He took a moment to stop punching the walker.

Laura also took a moment to take everything in. There were several walkers laying motionless on the floor. There was blood splattered everywhere, the television that her and her dad had watched the big game on the night before was smashed on the ground and some of the pictures that had been on the wall were no longer there. She then took a moment to look at her dad once again and noticed a mark on his forearm.

Laura felt like she was going to get sick. “ Dad! Were you bit? Please tell me you weren't bit.”

“ Laura, I don’t have time to discuss this, I probably only have a couple minutes left. Please just do as I say.”

Tears were now rolling down Laura’s face uncontrollably, the only person she deeply cared about was going to change into something completely different, something soulless. 

She ran towards her father and gave him a hug, she didn’t care what he was about to turn into, he was still her father and she wanted one last hug.

“ Laur, I want you to go upstairs and get that sword we got years ago, the one I put in the safe in my room. Bring it down right away, alright.” Laura just nodded and did as her dad told her, she always did.

Laura ran up the stairs and almost crashed into her father’s closet. She pulled open the doors and threw all the clothes behind her that were hung up and in her way. After only a couple seconds later she finally reached the large black safe and tried to turn the dial lock so she could get in. Much to her dismay and her shaky hands it took her three times until she got the combination right, however, once she finally did she opened it up and saw the sword right away. It was the katana sword her dad had brought home years before. Without hesitation and thanks to those lessons her dad had signed her up for, she strapped the sword to her back and ran back down the stairs to her father who was hunched on his hands and knees.

“ Daddy!” 

“ Laura, please no. I don’t want you to see me like this. There is a bag of things-.” Her father interrupted himself with a scream. He tried not to look at his daughter, the last thing he wanted was for Laura to remember him this way. It wasn’t very often that Mr. Hollis cried, but he couldn’t help but let the tears flow down his face one last time. This would be the last time he was going to be able to talk to his little girl. He wasn’t going to see her grow up, become a successful journalist, and marry the girl of her dreams. With every thought that went through his mind, his heart was breaking into a million more pieces. 

Laura was going to respond, but she physically didn’t know what to say. She hated not knowing how to fix something, how to make someone feel better. She wasn’t speechless too often, but this moment was one of those times.

“ The bag is by the door. There is a refugee camp set up in New York city, go there and you should be safe! I love you so much, Laura. So much.” After that the room was silent and still. Laura didn’t move, the dead walkers didn’t move and no one made a sound. Laura didn’t want to leave her dad, she already knew what it was like to lose one parent, she didn’t want to go through that again.

Except that it wasn’t her dad anymore. Laura watched as her dad lifted his head and made a very disturbing groan. It took some time but he managed to get back on his feet and started to make his way to Laura, and that was when she started to run. She ran passed her dad, grabbed the bag by the door, slung it behind her back and kept on moving her legs. She ran till her legs were numb, she ran till the objects around her were blurry, she ran till she thought she was physically out of tears. She ran all the way to the Lustig building because she needed a friend and Betty was the only person she had left.

* * *

Laura always wore the watch her father gave her when she was fifteen. It was just a standard digital watch that came equipped with an alarm and a compass. Her father gave it to her so she would know where she was going when she went out, it of course came with a lesson on how to use it and a lengthy speech about what to do if she ever came in contact with a bear. It was typical of her father to worry, it’s one of the traits that Laura had received from him, but she knew it was very unlikely that she would come in contact with a bear, especially in the city. Zombies however, were now a different story. 

Laura checked her watch for the umfteenth time while she was waiting for Betty outside the Lustig. It had been forty minutes since they had last talked and Laura was starting to get anxious with each passing moment. Betty was ten minutes late, people could be heard screaming in fear and walkers were roaming around. Laura didn’t feel safe but there was no way she could just leave Betty alone.

A woman who was Laura’s age ran past her, screaming and bumping into her on accident. The woman looked frightened and surprised to see someone just standing there, not running away to safety.

“ You better run, it’s for your own good!” The woman didn’t stop or take a look back as she kept on running. 

Laura took a deep breath before turning the corner of the lustig building and seeing what had to be approximately one hundred walkers coming towards her. She immediately pulled out her katana from it’s holder and turned around to run the opposite direction, except now she couldn’t. There was another group of walkers coming towards her from every direction, she was trapped.

“ Crap.” Laura mumbled. There was no more tears running down her face, Laura had her game face on and she was ready to attack.

She stabbed them as hard as she could, going from one walker to the next. As soon as one touched her she spun around and made sure they didn’t have a hand anymore. Laura stabbed them in the chest and stomach, but it only seemed to slow them down a small amount. They were beginning to corner her against the Lustig building wall when she heard a loud bang coming from a few feet away from her. Laura looked over and saw another woman holding a gun and shooting it at the walkers that were attacking Laura. The gun wasn’t just only killing the walkers but the loud noise was distracting the other ones as well. Laura took the opportunity to slash the few that were left around her and run towards the women who was still firing.

“ Aim for the head, that’s the only way to kill them permanently!” The other woman had yet to make eye contact with Laura. She just focused on the walkers in front of her and tried to kill as many as possible, Laura did the same as she slashed the heads of many dead creatures.

When a significant amount of the walkers were on the ground instead of coming after them the other woman put her gun back in it’s holster and started to jog away. It certainly startled Laura but that didn’t stop her from running after her.

“ Wait, you just can’t leave!”

“ Sure I can, just watch.” The other woman didn’t look back as she continued to run through campus.

Laura was blown away. This woman had essentially just saved her and now she was running away, why?

“ Please, just come back. I’m just waiting for my friend, she should be here any minute now!” Laura had stopped running as did the other woman as well. She watched as the mystery woman turned around and began to slowly walk towards Laura.

“ Why don’t you take a moment and just look around. Do you see the numerous dead bodies on the ground. Do you see the buildings that are on fire, do you see the multiple walkers around, essentially coming for people who are stupid enough to still be on campus. Your friend isn’t coming back, now take that as you will but I am not going to be ignorant enough to do nothing while these things try to kill me.” The dark haired woman stared at Laura for a moment before turning back around and running off again.

It was now Laura’s turn to make a decision. She could stay around on campus, alone, fending for herself while she waited for Betty. Or, she could run off with the rude stranger who essentially just called her stupid.

As a walker approached Laura from behind and slightly grazed her back Laura took the large sword she was still holding, spun around, and sliced his head off. It was in that moment that Laura decided she would run. She figured that Betty had probably taken her family to the refugee camp in New York that her dad had mentioned. She was probably already on her way and hoping that Laura was too.

Convincing herself, Laura placed her sword back in the holder that was strapped on her back and ran after the mysterious dark haired woman. Laura knew that she shouldn’t be tagging along with a stranger, in fact her dad would normally freak out at the sound of the word stranger, but things were different now. Her dad was gone, she was on her own, and there is a giant zombie apocalypse currently happening.

Plus, how bad could one woman possibly be.

* * *

They had been walking for what seemed like hours, and what they both discovered was not necessarily what they were hoping. Toronto was officially overrun by walkers. People couldn’t go a couple blocks without running into somebody who was dead. Both women had to kill many of them to survive, Laura using her sword and krav maga skills, while the other woman seemed to only use a small gun. The dark haired woman decided that camping in a deserted antique shop over night was the best decision, Laura just followed along since the other woman wouldn’t seem to talk to her.

Laura learned through all this that the woman she had followed was not overly friendly. She barely talked, and when she did it was harsh, she kept to herself and only ever looked through her own backpack a couple times. She was sitting down on a old looking stool and cleaning her gun with a cloth she had found from inside. Laura thought that since the doors to the place were locked, the lights off so they wouldn’t attract anyone, and no walkers were trying to eat them, that maybe she would open up a bit and talk.

“ So…” Laura said pulling up a stool across the table from the woman. “ Do you have a name?”

Laura only received a glare as the other woman continued to clean her gun.

“ Well, my name is Laura, if you wanted to know.” Laura took the bag that was still slung over her back and placed it on the table.

“ Well I didn’t.” The other woman placed her gun down and just glared over at Laura.

Laura shook her head. “ I don’t know why you are being such a grump.” Laura looked down at her hands which were shaking. Flashbacks of the day's events flashed through her mind, they have been ever since they got to the shop.

“ I didn’t ask you to follow me.”

“ And I didn’t ask you to save me!” It came out louder then Laura had expected but it seemed to do the job since the other girl stayed silent. “ I could have done it myself.”

The other girl scoffed. “ That’s unlikely.” 

Laura tried to keep her anger under control but she just couldn’t do it. The girl in front of her was being a sarcastic _bad person_ and Laura had just about enough. “ I don’t know who you think I am, but I am beyond capable to handle my own. I have years of training with first aid, my father was a raging paranoid who gave me day of the week bear spray and who also signed me up for krav maga at age eight. And speaking of my father I just so happened to see him turned into one of those _things_ today so if you kindly stop being a sarcastic asshole, then that would be muchly appreciated.” Laura was out of breath by the end of her rant.

The other girl didn’t move as she kept staring down at her very clean gun. Laura finally gave up as she picked up her backpack and went to the other side of the room.

“ My name,” Laura was stopped by the voice she had only heard when they were still on campus. She didn’t dare to turn back around as the other girl finally spoke. “ My name is Carmilla.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you have a question or want to chat about this you can find me on tumblr at mackassieaf


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